New, Fast-Acting Flu Drug Gets Priority FDA Review

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a New Drug Application (NDA) and granted Priority Review for baloxavir marboxil as a single-dose, oral treatment for acute, uncomplicated influenza in people 12 years and older. The FDA is expected to make a decision on approval by December 24, 2018. A Priority Review designation is granted to medicines that the FDA has determined to have the potential to provide significant improvements in the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of a disease.

Baloxavir marboxil is a first-in-class, single-dose investigational oral medicine with a novel proposed mechanism of action designed to target the flu virus, including oseltamivir-resistant strains and avian strains (H7N9, H5N1). Unlike other currently available antiviral treatments, baloxavir marboxil is designed to inhibit the cap-dependent endonuclease protein within the flu virus, which is essential for viral replication.

The NDA is based on results from the Phase III CAPSTONE-1 study of a single dose of baloxavir marboxil compared with placebo or oseltamivir 75 mg, twice daily for five days, in otherwise healthy people with the flu. Additionally, results from a placebo-controlled Phase II study in otherwise healthy people with the flu are included as supporting data in the NDA.